Allspice Apple Crumb Muffins

Continuing the muffin bender I seem to be on, here is another fantastic muffin recipe!  This one comes from the blog In Jennie's Kitchen.  I was already trolling for my next muffin fix when I came upon the recipe and immediately knew I had to try it.  Although I'm an unrepentant cinnamon fiend, I also appreciate allspice and always put lots of it in my apple butter and applesauce so it made sense that it would do great in the leading role of apple muffins.  Usually I'm not wild about soggy pieces of fruit in my muffins, but you grate them for this recipe so they just add sweetness, moisture, and a bit of texture without any sog.  The muffins themselves don't have all that much sugar- not even the topping- but the overall effect of spicy, soft, apple sweetened muffin with mildly sweet, crunchy topping is nothing less than delightful.  In the past I have tried apple crumb muffins and not been terribly impressed, but these bad boys are not only wonderful, they're also the best muffins I've made.  Maybe even the best ones I've ever had and that's saying a lot!  In short, make these muffins!

Quick note:  The original recipe does not contain vanilla or applesauce.  I tossed in vanilla as a force of habit, and added applesauce because my batter was so thick and dough like that I could have rolled it out and made biscuits with it.  I measured carefully so I'm not sure what happened there, but the applesauce addition certainly did not harm the flavor or texture!  Even with it, the batter was very thick.  Also, I assembled my batter slightly differently from Jennie.  A little more dumping of ingredients and a little less adding in small increments.  You can check out her recipe if you want to do it the right way.  And last of all, I got 20 muffins out of this recipe rather than the 12 it's supposed to make.  Not sure what happened there, but my muffin tin is the standard size that's also used for cupcakes.

Allspice Apple Crumb Muffins

Muffins
1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1 C sour cream
1/2 C applesauce
3 C flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t allspice
2 C grated peeled apples (this was 2 largish Fuji apples for me)

Topping
2 T butter
2 T brown sugar
1 T white sugar
1/2 C flour

Preheat oven to 375 and grease 2 muffin tins or line with muffin papers.  Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs until smooth, then vanilla extract, sour cream, and applesauce.  In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients.  Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture, then stir in grated apples, being careful not to over mix.  Batter will be quite thick.  Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full.  To make the topping, melt butter in a small bowl, then stir in sugars and flour until well combined.  Crumble evenly over muffins.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Serve immediately or else let them cool completely, then cover and store in the refrigerator.  They stay delicious for several days but are best fresh as the topping softens after being stored.

Yield: 20 regular sized muffins